The New Explorers. Series III; No. 302; The Dream Fulfilled

<v Bill Kurtis>In Montgomery, Alabama, there's a monument to remember those who led the civil rights <v Bill Kurtis>movement. <v Bill Kurtis>Names and dates on the stone, which represent real people <v Bill Kurtis>in bold action who carried out real dreams. <v Bill Kurtis>[cheering and chanting in background] Selma. <v Bill Kurtis>Birmingham. Montgomery. <v Bill Kurtis>Freedom Riders. Marchers. <v Bill Kurtis>To many they are only black and white images now. <v Bill Kurtis>But then, it was a struggle which would change America. <v Bill Kurtis>The voice of a great leader inspired thousands. <v Speaker>[Martin Luther King Jr. giving a speech] <v Bill Kurtis>They were moved by his dream and hurt when it seemed to fade. <v Bill Kurtis>The events of the movement and the words of Dr. King would shape many lives.

<v Bill Kurtis>But who among them would march on to fulfill the dream? <v TV Announcer>Major funding for the "New Explorers" is provided by Amoco: celebrating

<v TV Announcer>the adventure of scientific discovery for the year 2000 and beyond. <v TV Announcer>Additional funding is made possible by Waste Management Inc., providing <v TV Announcer>recycling and other waste services around the world. <v TV Announcer>And by Duracell: embracing the power of science education, <v TV Announcer>the source of future technology and innovative growth. <v TV Announcer>Duracell, the copper top battery. <v Bill Kurtis>Hello, I'm Bill Kurtis. And these may look familiar. <v Bill Kurtis>They're used by paramedics and in operating rooms to shock a heart back to life <v Bill Kurtis>if it stops, but it's a little difficult to carry this machine around with you all the <v Bill Kurtis>time in case of an emergency. <v Bill Kurtis>Our New Explorer works with a much more advanced idea. <v Bill Kurtis>They've taken the power of this machine and placed it in this small electronic device <v Bill Kurtis>that can be implanted in the body to sense when a heart stops and start it <v Bill Kurtis>again. It's enabled our New Explorer, Dr. Levi Watkins of Johns Hopkins <v Bill Kurtis>Hospital, to chart a whole new course in cardiac surgery.

<v Bill Kurtis>Baltimore, Maryland. The corridors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. <v Bill Kurtis>It's a world class institution, considered 1 of the best. <v Bill Rossberg>I got through all of radiology [fade out]. <v Bill Kurtis>70-year-old Bill Rossberg wouldn't argue after separate surgeries for heart failure <v Bill Kurtis>and cancer. He's a Hopkins regular. <v Bill Rossberg>My wife can take you around this hospital better than any guide <v Bill Rossberg>you have. But we love this place. <v Bill Rossberg>Seriously. <v Bill Rossberg>No matter what it is. I don't know what they do here, but <v Bill Rossberg>they make you feel very comfortable. <v Bill Kurtis>He's here today because 2 weeks ago, his heart stopped. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Well see if you can run Mrs. Rossberg down. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Levi Watkins, a heart surgeon at Johns Hopkins, is going to make sure it doesn't <v Bill Kurtis>happen again. <v Speaker>[background chatter] <v Bill Kurtis>His specialty is giving patients another chance at life.

<v Dr. Levi Watkins>Now you have to do this [fade out]. <v Bill Kurtis>Bill Rossberg almost missed that chance, as his wife explains. <v Mrs. Rossberg>My son had come up from Charlottesville and it's Father's Day weekend. <v Mrs. Rossberg>And we were greeting each-. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Hm. Father's Day weekend. <v Mrs. Rossberg>Yes, we were greeting each other out on the driveway. <v Mrs. Rossberg>And my husband was in the basement in his shop playing solitaire and he heard from <v Mrs. Rossberg>the driveway. So he came upstairs. <v Mrs. Rossberg>So it wasn't much time because he came up. <v Mrs. Rossberg>He decided to get a glass of water on the sink board. <v Mrs. Rossberg>And we came through the- greeted each other and the 2 grandchildren, then came <v Mrs. Rossberg>through the family room and I could see his arm lying on the floor. <v Mrs. Rossberg>So he- and at that point he was and he- there was glass everywhere. <v Mrs. Rossberg>But he was not cut. He did not strike his head. <v Mrs. Rossberg>He really was very lucky. <v Bill Kurtis>The human heart, under normal circumstances, beats steadily, about 72 beats <v Bill Kurtis>per minute. But for many heart patients, the scarring of previous heart attacks <v Bill Kurtis>could lead to sudden cardiac arrhythmia.

<v Bill Kurtis>It's a short circuit within the heart that throws it off course into a pulsating frenzy. <v Bill Kurtis>The heart rate soars. Blood pressure falls. <v Bill Kurtis>The body's pump shuts down. <v Bill Kurtis>By applying the jolt of electricity to the heart, doctors can shock it back to its proper <v Bill Kurtis>rhythm. Without intervention, most people die within minutes. <v Bill Kurtis>But those who get help can be pulled from sudden death. <v Bill Kurtis>A team of emergency medical technicians conducts its rescue mission, delivering an <v Bill Kurtis>electric current to the heart with the pedals of a defibrillator. <v Bill Kurtis>For the fortunate, the heart returns to normal and the episode ends. <v Doctor>Gotta getcha down there. <v Bill Kurtis>In a few hours, Dr. Watkins will implant a miniaturized defibrillator in Bill Rossberg. <v Bill Kurtis>The risk of his heart stopping unexpectedly again is great. <v Bill Kurtis>If it does, the defibrillator will jolt it back into action. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Now, where we are with this device. <v Bill Kurtis>Much smaller. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Much smaller. Just I mean, you can see the difference. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>It's much smaller. This is both the doctor and the powerhouse.

<v Bill Kurtis>Hmm. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>It can make the diagnosis of ventricular tachycardia and it also has the power. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Now, there are comparable. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>The power source sits here. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>The uh- these are the paddles, if you will. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>These patches compare- <v Bill Kurtis>To these? <v Dr. Levi Watkins>To these. <v Bill Kurtis>Uh huh. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>This goes on the chest. This goes on the heart. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>[talking in background] <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Watkins has a long history with the defibrillator. <v Bill Kurtis>He's before more than 500 implants in over 10 years, more than any <v Bill Kurtis>other heart surgeon. <v Bill Kurtis>In the 1970s, he worked closely with the inventor of the device, Dr. Michel Morowski <v Bill Kurtis>of Baltimore Sinai Hospital. <v Bill Kurtis>It took years of research, refinement and experimentation before the first defibrillator <v Bill Kurtis>implant in a human was performed in 1980. <v Bill Kurtis>The lead surgeon? Dr. Levi Watkins. <v Bill Kurtis>The procedure was marked by both triumph and tension. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Actually, the first implant fell on the floor. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>The nurses and all were so nervous for the first implant, when I asked for the device,

<v Dr. Levi Watkins>it went to the floor. <v Bill Kurtis>Oh no [laughs] <v Dr. Levi Watkins>So the second device was given to me and we implanted it in this lady. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>The most notable feature of the first implant was, as you saw, <v Dr. Levi Watkins>we have to stop the heart to see if the device <v Dr. Levi Watkins>will bring it back. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And in all of our training, we are taught to start the heart, not <v Dr. Levi Watkins>to stop it. And so for the first time, I guess ever, and certainly for the first time <v Dr. Levi Watkins>in uh my experience, we- we stopped it and we had <v Dr. Levi Watkins>to wait until the device fired. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And in this particular patient, it- it took 35 seconds-. <v Bill Kurtis>Oh my goodness. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And it seemed like that was the longest 35 seconds in a lifetime. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And we were about to abandon the concept of the internal <v Dr. Levi Watkins>defibrillator and go to that external device that you-. <v Bill Kurtis>Mm-hmm. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And in fact, I had grabbed the paddles of the external device, getting to try to shock <v Dr. Levi Watkins>her back, when the internal implantable device fired

<v Dr. Levi Watkins>and brought her back. <v Bill Kurtis>Wow. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And that was the first human implant and the first human restoration <v Dr. Levi Watkins>automatic restoration by the device. <v Bill Kurtis>Is she still living? <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Yes, she is. <v Bill Kurtis>Really? <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Yes, she is. <v Bill Kurtis>What a success story. <v Art Donovan>This machine [fade out]. <v Bill Kurtis>Another previous patient is living proof the implant is reliable. <v Art Donovan>It really- it jolts ya. <v Bill Kurtis> From 1950 to 1962, Art Donovan was a star <v Bill Kurtis>tackle for the Baltimore Colts. <v Art Donovan>And it went off and boom. I saw this blue flash. <v Art Donovan>I thought maybe I was just uh, you know, this was just something I was imagining. <v Bill Kurtis>In 1968, he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame and has been a Baltimore <v Bill Kurtis>celebrity ever since. His own defibrillator has come through more than once. <v Art Donovan>And the third time it went off, I was sitting on the floor in my kitchen, anyway, my <v Art Donovan>son came to help me and boom! <v Art Donovan>It went off and it put- raised me right off the ground. <v Art Donovan>And my son goes, jeez!

<v Art Donovan>And that was all and it was fine. <v Bill Kurtis>It's 11:00 a.m. and Bill Rossberg is in the cardiac catheter lab. <v Bill Kurtis>Cardiologists carefully thread defibrillator wires into a vein. <v Bill Kurtis>Their target is the patient's heart. <v Bill Kurtis>3 hours from now, Dr. Watkins will connect the other ends of the wires to the <v Bill Kurtis>defibrillator, which will be permanently placed in the abdomen. <v Bill Kurtis>For the rest of Mr. Rossberg's life, the implant will continually pick up electric <v Bill Kurtis>impulses from the heart, monitoring it for abnormal rhythm. <v Bill Kurtis>Without the implant, the likelihood of a patient living 5 years is 0. <v Bill Kurtis>Now, with the implant and techniques pioneered by Dr. Watkins, life expectancy <v Bill Kurtis>is 10 years. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>The only thing we have to do is uh check this electrode out, make sure it's okay. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Put in [fade out]. <v Bill Kurtis>Before surgery. Dr. Watkins gives a final briefing to his chief resident who will assist <v Bill Kurtis>him in the operating room. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Prep him out all the way down in case we have to resuscitate him with the external <v Dr. Levi Watkins>device.

<v Bill Kurtis>He makes a strong effort that mentoring, perhaps because of the leader who guided him. <v Speaker>[Dr. Watkins speaking in background]. <v Speaker>[bell rings] <v Speaker>[singers sing "This Little Light of Mine"] <v Bill Kurtis>In 1955, Martin Luther King Junior had just moved to Montgomery, Alabama, <v Bill Kurtis>taking the pulpit at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. <v Bill Kurtis>He was only 25. <v Bill Kurtis>Among his congregation were Levi Watkins, Senior and his family. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Watkins would soon become president of Alabama State University. <v Bill Kurtis>Levi Junior and his brothers and sisters were destined to live in a special [bell <v Bill Kurtis>tolls in background] place in time to witness a wildfire that would sweep this south and <v Bill Kurtis>eventually America. <v Bill Kurtis>The tinder for the blaze of protest was Montgomery, a city filled with <v Bill Kurtis>racial tension and divided in 2: 1 black, <v Bill Kurtis>1 white. <v Bill Kurtis>For the whites, there was privilege, but for a black child in Montgomery... <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Couldn't go to the swimming pool, the zoo, the park, the Dairy <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Queen, the White Tower restaurants, the Paramount

<v Dr. Levi Watkins>movie theaters. None of those things were available. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>So back then, at that time, it seemed not a great place <v Dr. Levi Watkins>to grow up. But in retrospect, it was a wonderful place to grow up-. <v Bill Kurtis>And what a time and piece of history. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Yes. Yes. <v Bill Kurtis>And as a youngster, he was surrounded by the struggle. <v Bill Kurtis>To Levi, it was a lifelong call to action to continue the work of <v Bill Kurtis>his pastor, the man who led the movement. <v Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.>We are not afraid of the threat of arrest. <v Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.>We are not afraid of police dogs. <v Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.>We are not afraid of the Nazi party or the states' rights party <v Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.>[congegration sounds of agreement] because as we march, we know that we do not march <v Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.>alone.

<v Dr. Levi Watkins>Dr. King was not only a great speaker. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>He was a great preacher. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Uh and I remember the many, many times that I was at his home. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>We had a little club called the Crusaders Club. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Dr. King would bring in all the young boys and try to influence them. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And obviously, he did [laughs] he did influence us. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>But he brought us in his home in the evenings and talked about uh the concept <v Dr. Levi Watkins>of God and what that should mean. <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. King's dream, born in Montgomery, has come true today as <v Bill Kurtis>Dr. Watkins operates on Bill Rossberg. <v Bill Kurtis>The surgical team will use a new approach known as the ENDOTAK lead system. <v Bill Kurtis>It's a closed-chest procedure, less invasive than the standard open-heart approach, and <v Bill Kurtis>as yet, still in development. <v Bill Kurtis>The new technique is under protocol. <v Bill Kurtis>It must be proven effective before it's certified by the federal government. <v Bill Kurtis>With his own prior consent, Bill Rossberg has become a volunteer in the study. <v Speaker>[surgeons talk in background].

<v Bill Kurtis>Before collecting the generator and leads, the team will conduct a series of tests <v Bill Kurtis>to make sure all components are working, to determine the amount of energy needed to <v Bill Kurtis>restart the heart, and to meet protocol requirements. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>OK, you got your pacer hooked up. <v Bill Kurtis>First, the electrodes are tested. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>We're gonna have the external defibrillator on max. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>We have to cut this off so that we can shock him in case he doesn't come back. <v Bill Kurtis>This is the most dramatic step, especially for someone who has just survived cardiac <v Bill Kurtis>arrhythmia. To find out how much energy it takes to defibrillate the heart, <v Bill Kurtis>it must first defibrillate it. <v Bill Kurtis>Stopped just as it was when Bill Rossberg collapsed at home. <v Bill Kurtis>All eyes focus on the corner screen. <v Bill Kurtis>The top yellow lines represent EKG, the heart's electrical output. <v Bill Kurtis>The bottom peaks show blood pressure. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>OK. You guys ready?

<v Dr. Levi Watkins>Have at it. <v Surgeon>?Papers on? Inducing, 1001, 1002, 1003, <v Surgeon>off. [fade out] <v Bill Kurtis>An electric current shuts the heart down. <v Surgeon>7, 8. <v Bill Kurtis>The implant fires. <v Bill Kurtis>But the heart doesn't respond. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Internal rescue ?at 40 coming? <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Try it again. Charge again stat 40. <v Surgeon>?40's comin'? <v Surgeon>Put this thing on here. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Go ahead again. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Nope. Still 40. Again it's not getting him internally...Okay <v Dr. Levi Watkins>externally got him. <v Bill Kurtis>The implant didn't work. <v Bill Kurtis>The jolt from the pedals used 10 times the power of the implant. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>That was 15 and then 2 internal at 40 didn't get 'im. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>So let's go to configuration 2. <v Bill Kurtis>The team must modify its approach, altering the lead system, closing in on <v Bill Kurtis>the precise power setting.

<v Dr. Levi Watkins>Now, how do you want- what do you want his negative in the second configuration? <v Bill Kurtis>The trial run on Bill Rossberg's implant continues. <v Bill Kurtis>There is no substitute test. <v Bill Kurtis>No way to simulate arrhythmia. <v Bill Kurtis>They'll have to stop his heart again. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Everybody cross their fingers and say their prayer. <v Surgeon>Okay, induction, 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005, <v Surgeon>1006, 1007, 1008, 1009, 1010, <v Surgeon>Frank. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Ah. Beautiful. Beautiful. <v Bill Kurtis>The implant worked. Bill Rossberg's heart is now beating normally. <v Bill Kurtis>Putting the patient's life on hold, relying on teamwork to bring him back. <v Bill Kurtis>It's a huge responsibility and the outcome is never certain. <v Speaker>[background chatter]. <v Bill Kurtis>A doctor needs a place to gain perspective. <v Bill Kurtis>Like the waters of Baltimore's harbor.

<v Bill Kurtis>What are the rewards for a surgeon? <v Dr. Levi Watkins>I think the- the first reward uh is- is <v Dr. Levi Watkins>uh your ability to impact along with <v Dr. Levi Watkins>God in saving a life, and I <v Dr. Levi Watkins>mean, not life down the road, but helping to save life <v Dr. Levi Watkins>immediately. Because, you know, most of my patients know they are lucky. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>They are lucky to be here. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>They know that even before they come. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Uh so I enjoy- I enjoy- I enjoy operating on them. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>I enjoy loving them. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And I try to share myself with them and treat them as <v Dr. Levi Watkins>if they are my family, which they are. <v Bill Kurtis>And the family tree has many branches. <v Bill Kurtis>On the walls of his harbor-front home are pictures of many civil rights leaders <v Bill Kurtis>and renowned performers, all longtime friends of Levi. <v Bill Kurtis>The late Reverend Dr. Ralph Abernathy.

<v Bill Kurtis>Singer Harry Belafonte. <v Bill Kurtis>Former U.N. ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young. <v Bill Kurtis>African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela. <v Bill Kurtis>And Bishop Desmond Tutu. <v Speaker>[background chatter]. <v Bill Kurtis>The friendships go deep, rooted in a common cause. <v Bill Kurtis>And of course, Rosa Parks. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>1 single act of courage. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>She is a wonderful friend and she is a patient. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Uh she's doing very well. She is one of the strongest women <v Dr. Levi Watkins>I have ever met in my life at any age. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>[bell tolls] <v Bill Kurtis>On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks changed the course <v Bill Kurtis>of history. That afternoon, she rode a Montgomery bus home from work. <v Bill Kurtis>She sat down. <v Bill Kurtis>The driver came back and ask her to give her seat to a white man. <v Bill Kurtis>By the courage of her convictions, she refused to get up and was promptly <v Bill Kurtis>jailed. Rosa Parks' action sparked the Montgomery bus

<v Bill Kurtis>boycott and the entire civil rights movement that followed. <v Bill Kurtis>10 years after the boycott, Watkins made his own historic contribution to civil rights <v Bill Kurtis>as the first African-American student to enroll and later graduate from Vanderbilt <v Bill Kurtis>University Medical School. <v Speaker>[background chatter] <v Bill Kurtis>Today at Johns Hopkins, his ongoing efforts at minority recruitment have shown positive <v Bill Kurtis>results. Since joining the hospital in 1979, minority medical <v Bill Kurtis>student enrollment has grown from less than 1 percent to over 10 percent, <v Bill Kurtis>well above the national average for medical schools. <v Bill Kurtis>The 2 lives have Levi Watkins, medicine and civil rights, are inseparable. <v Bill Kurtis>We saw it clearly when he went home to historic Dexter Avenue Baptist Church with patient <v Bill Kurtis>and friend Rosa Parks. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Real love for a real world [fade out]. <v Pastor>Love is in ?inaudible? <v Pastor>And my dear friends, love is intelligent as it moves

<v Pastor>in the midst of a wolf-like world. <v Pastor>Jesus says that love ought to be wise <v Pastor>as a serpent. <v Bill Kurtis>For the Dexter Fellowship, it's a chance for longtime friends to reconnect with <v Bill Kurtis>Rosa and Levi. The mother of the movement and a child <v Bill Kurtis>of the cause. <v Bill Kurtis>For children now and uh who might be reading about the bus <v Bill Kurtis>boycott, could you describe for them that day <v Bill Kurtis>and that moment? <v Rosa Parks>Well, I can- can remember <v Rosa Parks>that we had a very severe legally enforced <v Rosa Parks>racial segregation everywhere, and of course in a very disagreeable on the buses. <v Rosa Parks>And at the time I was arrested, I was working with the NAACP as <v Rosa Parks>a secretary of the senior branch and as adviser to the <v Rosa Parks>?youth?.

<v Rosa Parks>And when I was arrested, I just felt very <v Rosa Parks>much like I had too much to do to be goin' to jail, but if I had to face that, <v Rosa Parks>I would rather do that than to let the uh segregators and <v Rosa Parks>those- the powers that be know that we as a people were satisfied with the <v Rosa Parks>way we're being treated. <v Bill Kurtis>Of course, Dr. Watkins would not have been able to go to Vanderbilt were it not for the <v Bill Kurtis>civil rights movement. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Well, listen, I'm glad she sat down, because if she hadn't sat down, I wouldn't <v Dr. Levi Watkins>have been able to stand up. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>You're right. Vanderbilt was a segregated institution. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>If Mrs. Parks hadn't had sat down, the whole modern civil rights movement might not have <v Dr. Levi Watkins>occurred. She did it by herself at that time, but the whole movement, Dr. King, <v Dr. Levi Watkins>the whole of this church, and many other things came about as a consequence of that. <v Bill Kurtis>What do you remember about that time? You were a young man growing up. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Well, we- we were small. I was a small child. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>I had my best friend, Norman Walton. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>His father was in church today. We were all young at that time. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Everything seemed to be um even though it was segregated, it seemed to be

<v Dr. Levi Watkins>the order of the day. The fact that we couldn't go to Oak Park and all those little <v Dr. Levi Watkins>places seemed to be uh the order of the day. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>But when Dr. King and others started the movement, it became clear that the order of <v Dr. Levi Watkins>the day was out of order. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>So when I walk into my house every night, the first thing I see is Rosa Parks. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And that is a reminder of uh- of <v Dr. Levi Watkins>everything I need to do every day. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Uh it is a major part of my life. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Um sudden death. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Open heart surgery. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Full professorship. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Dean. All of those things at Johns Hopkins. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>I am sure would not have occurred if the people and the relationship <v Dr. Levi Watkins>here on the wall had not existed. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And that's something I will never, ever forget. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>How are you? You look beautiful.

<v Dr. Levi Watkins>You look beautiful. <v Bill Kurtis>The day after surgery. Bill Rossberg is doing well, but his surgeon wants <v Bill Kurtis>1 more test. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Now, let me tell you what we're gonna do before you go home. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>We need to test it just 1 more time, so you know what it's about <v Dr. Levi Watkins>in the event it ever goes off, it won't just shock ya. <v Bill Rossberg>?inaudible?. Yell and surpise me. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Yeah. Under control situation will stop your heart 1 more time, and then <v Dr. Levi Watkins>let the device start it back up. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And this is just a test. And we have to do this because you've got the experimental one. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>But let me assure you, everything worked well and will work well. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And you'll be out of here in a short period of time. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And I think I'm a better heart surgeon because of Montgomery. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>A better uh physician because of the struggle. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>I think sometimes you have to struggle a little bit to appreciate <v Dr. Levi Watkins>the struggle in other people's lives. <v Bill Kurtis>And memories of this struggle still hit home.

<v Bill Kurtis>When we return to Montgomery, we found out that Levi had never been back to Oak Park. <v Bill Kurtis>The whites-only zoo he had to sneak into as a youngster. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>All we wanted to do is see the animals. They had great animals and great plants <v Dr. Levi Watkins>as they are uhright now. <v Bill Rossberg>It must have been the most beautiful place in the world in your mind. <v Bill Rossberg>A forbidden zone here. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Yep. You know, that was part of the attraction. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>It was so pretty and we couldn't go and uh visit. <v Bill Rossberg>During your life, your young life, was it ever open? <v Dr. Levi Watkins>It was never open uh to me. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>At the time that uh they decided to integrate it, I think <v Dr. Levi Watkins>they closed the park. So I was gone to college by then. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>I've never been in this park since then. <v Bill Kurtis>Really? <v Dr. Levi Watkins>So this is the first time I've actually been in the park as an equal citizen. <v Bill Kurtis>No kidding. Well, how does it look to you? <v Dr. Levi Watkins>Smaller, but still beautiful. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>This pond is just as pretty. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>The plants, I don't know what they do with all the animals, but

<v Dr. Levi Watkins>you know what, they're- 1 of the things that concerns me is that there are a lot <v Dr. Levi Watkins>of other little Oak Parks in America, and I hope that <v Dr. Levi Watkins>we can change them as this park has changed. <v Dr. Levi Watkins>And I think the beauty of America can be brought out for all people if we do that. <v Speaker>[gospel singing] <v TV Announcer>Major funding for The New Explorers is provided by Amoco: celebrating

<v TV Announcer>the adventure of scientific discovery for the year 2000 and beyond. <v TV Announcer>Additional funding is made possible by Waste Management Inc.: providing recycling <v TV Announcer>and other waste services around the world. <v TV Announcer>And by Duracell: embracing the power of science education, <v TV Announcer>the source of future technology and innovative growth. <v TV Announcer>Duracell, the copper top battery. <v TV Announcer 2>A videocassette and accompanying teacher's guide are available for each episode of The <v TV Announcer 2>New Explorers. To Order, call 1 800 6 2 1 0 6 6 0, or write <v TV Announcer 2>The New Explorers 1 5 1 8 1, Route 58 South, Oberlin, Ohio. <v TV Announcer 2>4 4 0 7 4. <v PBS Announcer>This is PBS.